The Toadcast - the weekly podcast from Song, by Toad

Apologies for the lateness of this week's podcast, but inevitably the chaos of SXSW nudges schedules into the background a little. 

Last year, several margaritas the worse for wear, we sat down with Ben from Instinctive Racoon, Stuart from Creative Scotland, Vic Galloway from BBC Radio Scotland and Peej from Dear Scotland, and recorded a ramshackle, lurching podcast about the fun of the week.

This year, perhaps goaded into something bordering on professionalism by the presence of the BBC camera crew who have been following Vic around all week, things were a little smoother.  Although this may also have been related to the fact that the margarita-hoovering didn't actually start until afterwards this time. Ben wasn't here this time, but we did have myself, Peej, Vic and Stuart sharing a beverage on Peej's back porch and talking something approaching the usual gubbins.

Oh, and the Detour Scotland Big Walk video we mention in the podcast can be found here.

01. Admiral Fallow - Squealing Pigs (00.37)
02. Withered Hand - Religious Songs (10.40)
03. Menomena - Taos (23.02)
04. Clock Opera - A Piece of String (28.13) 
05. Ringo Deathstarr - Imagine Hearts (35.32)
06. The Twilight Sad - Cold Days From the Birdhouse (48.50)
07. Josh T Pearson - Sweetheart I Ain't Your Christ (62.27)
08. Erland & the Carnival - My Name is Carnival (74.19)
09. King Creosote - Grace (Jeff Buckley cover) (82.49)

 Fucking hell, it's been battering it down for the last few days - 'torrent'ial, see, nothing to do with the naughty internets!  We've had snow in the morning and pishing rain for the rest of the day - fucking rotten.  Combine this with our worryingly leaky roof and honestly, it's a bit of a surprise I am not in a worse mood.  

As it is, however, I feel relatively chirpy.  There is footie tonight, and I will sit up late with some wine and make mixtapes for... well, for no obvious reason whatsoever I have to confess, apart from the fact that I am getting fed up of being embarrassed by the music taste of my nineteen-year-old self whenever I randomly select a tape to play in the van.  Also, making tapes is a nice way to listen to vinyl singles which might otherwise be neglected. 

01. David Thomas Broughton - Ain't Got No Sole (00.29)
02. Lab Coast - Really Realise (06.54) 
03. M.J. Hibbett & the Validators - The Gay Train (17.49) 
04. Bonnie Prince Billy & the Cairo Gang - Island Brothers (24.19)
05. Bob Dylan & the Rolling Thunder Revue - Romance in Durango (29.12)
06. Dolfish - Your Love is Bummin' Me Out (35.56)
07. Daniel Knox - Ghost Song (39.59)
08. The Honorable Worm - Behind the invisible hedges, into the unimaginable fields... (43.29)
09. Elbow - Lippy Kids (52.37)
10. Honeydrum - Those Babes (63.17) 

I really am running out of stupid names for these fucking things.  I'm sure I'm going to end up just numbering them in future, but for now you're going to have to put up with the bloody silly names I'm afraid.

In my effort to squeeze eleven songs into an hour I actually don't ramble very much on this one, only to find out that the podcast ends up being much less than the usual hour and a bit, for a change.  Do I really talk so fucking much the rest of the time?

Anyhow, this is a fucking ace podcast of new music.  I don't generally pay too much attention to how cool (or otherwise) these things might be, but I reckon any haircut merchants out there might rather enjoy this one.  For the rest of you, those without Haircuts with a capital haitch, well, just get on as best you can.  Let's face it, if I love it all, it can't really be all that cutting edge, can it.

01. FOUND - Machine Age Dancing (00.25)
02. Girls Names - Seánce on a Wet Afternoon (07.00)
03. Sonny & the Sandwitches - A. Grassley - Throw My Ashes From This Pier When I Die (12.19)
04. The Honorable Worm - Wouldn't Mind Dying (14.46)
05. Li'l Daggers - Ya Tu Sabe (22.54)
06. The Louche FC - Back Bedroom Casualty (29.27)
07. Milk Maid - Such Fun (33.24)
08. Brown Brogues - Treet U Beta (35.56)
09. The Honey Pies - Hair of the Dog (41.07)
10. Zed Penguin - This Town (46.49)
11. Manners - Knives (56.44)

Almost a year and a half ago now my friend Craig came round to record a podcast about early blues which we, somewhat unimaginatively, called the Craigcast.

A great deal of that conversation centred around Fat Possum Records (Wikipedia), and how Matthew Johnson struggled for years to keep it trundling along, despite being near bankruptcy for most of the time.  It wasn't until soul legend Solomon Burke decided to release his comeback record with them that they finally got out of the financial woods with some finality.

Craig's interest in the label is based around an obsession with old blues music, but from a modern indie kid's perspective Fat Possum are still one of the best record labels in the world - The Walkmen, AA Bondy, Andrew Bird, Sonny and the Sunsets, Band of Horses, The Black Keys, Dinosaur Jr., The Felice Brothers, Wavves and Yuck all release with them.  So this is absolutely all about Fat Possum and their bands.  Sort of a tribute, and sort of a public demonstration of me being absolutely green with envy.

01. R.L. Burnside - Snake Drive (00.15)
02. Dinosaur Jr. - Almost Ready (14.11)
03. Junior Kimbrough - Meet Me in the City (21.34)
04. Andrew Bird - Plasticities (Live) (28.46)
05. Johnny Farmer - Ocean Blues (38.37)
06. Townes Van Zandt - Pancho & Lefty (46.26)
07. Sonny & the Sunsets & Death Cream (59.02)
08. The Walkmen - Donde Esta la Playa (61.45)
09. Cedell Davies - Keep on Snatchin' it Back (68.03)
10. T-Model Ford - Take a Ride With Me (76.47)

Video: Vimeo – YouTube.
Photos: Flickr.
Free mp3 downloads: zip file (right click – save as).

We actually recorded this Toad Session in the Queen Charlotte Rooms in Leith before the Song, by Toad Christmas Party back in December.  Partly this was because it seemed like a fun thing to do, and partly because swapping our traditional and rather overpowering turquoise backdrop for their Christmas lights and tinsel.

Also, we had six different bands playing the Queen Charlotte Rooms that night, as sort of a Song, by Toad Records Christmas celebration, and as Rob had only just agreed to release his debut album on Song, by Toad Records (later this year – probably in the Autumn sometime) it seemed fitting that he headline one of the rooms on the night itself.

In terms of manpower we were woefully, woefully understaffed for this session.  The only person who could help at all was Wee Matthew, and even he couldn’t make it for the start, so I pressed my parents into service.  Well come on, they’ve got be more use than just glue, eh?  So my mum took some pictures and did some filming, I set up the recording and the main camera, and then she passed the video camera on to Matthew when he arrived and the stills camera on to me.

And miraculously, it wasn’t a total disaster.  In fact, the actual recordings, whilst more than a little noisy, in part due to the hum of the fridges behind the bar, are some of my favourite-sounding Toad Session recordings.  As usual, we have all the individual song videos embedded below, or on our Vimeo or YouTube pages, and the photos can be found on Flickr. The main interview podcast can be streamed or downloaded immediately below, as can the individual session tracks, with the playlist for the podcast at the bottom of the page. As per usual feel absolutely free to share and pass around any of this stuff – that’s what it’s for.

01. Rob St. John - Whites of Our Eyes (Toad Session) (07.33)
02. Smog & the Dirty Three - Cold Discovery (Peel Session) (15.20)
03. James Yorkston & the Athletes - Hermitage (21.33)
04. Rob St. John - Your Phantom Limb (Toad Session) (29.35)
05. Grouper - We've All Time to Sleep (36.07)
06. Ben Frost - Hibakusja (39.17)
07. Rob St. John - An Empty House (Toad Session) (51.19)
08. Earth - Hung From the Moon (57.29)
09. Micah P. Hinson - Patience (65.13)
10. Rob St. John - Muted Flourish (Toad Session) (72.06)

 Mrs. Toad and I do NOT approve Valentine's Day, and I have to say the fact that she genuinely seems to hate it (rather than just saying so, but secretly still expecting flowers) is a very liberating thing.  It means I can know finally forget about the whole bloody nonsense once and for all, and never ever have to figure out exactly how much I am expected to spend in order to demonstrate my affection for someone.

There is, after all, very little that can be less romantic than obediently making protestations of love for no other reason than that everyone else is doing so and you are expected to conform.  Seriously?  I actually think it's just plain fucking insulting, frankly.  

'Hello darling, I thought we might go out for a meal tonight.' 
'Yes dear, what a lovely idea, what made you think of that?'

In what possible world can 'because the shops told me to' be considered a better answer than, say, 'because we've both been really busy recently and I miss spending time with you'.  And assuming that the latter is obviously the more romantic answer, what the fuck does that have to do with the fourteenth of February?

01. Cracker - Mr. Wrong (00.18)
02. The Dead Kennedys - Your Emotions (08.39)
03. Fear of Pop - In Love (13.25)
04. The Veils - Don't Let the Same Bee Sting You Twice (22.02)
05. Bill Callahan - Our Anniversary (24.33)
06. The Wedding Present - Nobody's Twisting Your Arm (36.00)
07. Tom Waits - Frank's Wild Years (39.40)
08. The Clash - White Riot (46.15)
09. Taxrat - Burn Down Slow (48.32)
10. Josh T. Pearson - Honeymoon is Great, I Wish You Were Her (55.25)

The Crapcast is so named because I am in one of the dingiest hotel rooms I have ever been in.  In isn't even entertainingly bad, which would be something, just like being dressed in clothes from Marks and Spencer and being trapped inside a grey cardboard box listening to Keane's greatest hits.

Anyhow, the shower was really good, and I can forgive almost any other atrocity in a hotel room, as long as the shower is hot and the pressure is good.

Anyhow, I am abandoning the Hotel of Beige for a friend's house tonight, and then tootling back up to Edinburgh tomorrow evening to see my nice lady again.  It makes a bit of change for me to be away on business instead of her, so I can go back and gloat about being a mover and a shaker… until she puts me firmly back in my place my reminding me that when she goes away it is to China and New York and Australia, not just a long weekend in London.

And yes, I do refer to a bit of 'verbal writing' in this.  Don't judge me too harshly.  I was wrecked.

01. Billy Bragg - The Saturday Boy (00.56)
02. Pet Ghost Project - Glitch Shake (10.09)
03. We Are Losers - Cheerleaders (18.27)
04. Yuck - Rubber (21.15)
05. King James - A Big Black Dog (30.41)
06. Eef Barzelay - Ballad of Bitter Honey (37.13)
07. Elbow - Station Approach (41.04)
08. David Dondero - Don't Cry No Tears (47.37)
09. The Veils - Bloom (52.00)
10. Micachu & the Shapes - Everything (58.19)

After enjoying the Vinylcast I recorded a couple of weeks ago, I'm afraid I wasn't able to resist the temptation to come bacl to my record collection for this week's podcast as well.  In fact, I think I can safely say that this is now something which is going to become a regular feature of Song, by Toad podcasts because... er, well just because it's fun I suppose.

This week I went to the Shelter charity shop on our street and bought about half a dozen records: some Bessie Smith, Shirley Bassey, Ella Fitzgerald, Kid Thomas and his Algiers Stompers, and a couple of old Dylan records.

If I end up ever developing a taste for jazz I am pretty sure I will be able to trace it directly to a sense of misplaced nostalgia, and the charity shops of Scotland.  I am a long way from being a jazz fan, but there's something so fitting about the crackle of vinyl on an old jazz record.  I never used to listen to this stuff as a kid, but for some reason I get a nostalgic feeling from listening to it now.

01. The Meteors - Wrecking Crew (00.22)
02. Kurt Vile - I Wanted Everything (07.16)
03. The Ad Libs - He Ain't No Angel (15.01)
04. Tom Waits & Crystal Gale - Little Boy Blue (17.39)
05. The Velvet Underground - Stephanie Says (24.07)
06. U2 - Twilight (29.00)
07. Girls Names - Graveyard (33.19)
08. Rene - Destination: Mars (40.00)
09. Ambitious Tugboat - Age Rings (43.07)
10. Manners - My Will (48.27)
11. Otis Redding - Pain in My Heart (56.36)

I think I have figured out why Fence Records hate the internet.  Or at least, I feel like I am starting to get some insight into what is an intensely troubled relationship.  The two of them just don't get along at all, and the mutual antipathy has boiled over into outright hostility this afternoon, with the rush to buy Homegame tickets from the Fence website actually breaking the whole internet.

So while I wait for normal service to be resumed, and with it the opportunity to buy tickets for Homegame this year, I thought I might record a podcast.  Or at least, so I thought.  But it turned out the Facebook chat about the interminable (three hour) wait was too entertaining, and the paralysing fear of the site suddenly coming back online and me missing out on tickets was too much.

So I faffed about, went out and got pissed, and ended up recording this after our gig tonight, sorry.

01. Edinburgh School for the Deaf - Love is Terminal (00.17)
02. Black Tambourine - Throw Aggi off the Bridge (07.34)
03. The Great Valley - Tall Smoke (11.53)
04. Hezekiah Jones - I Love My Family (Album Version) (20.47)
05. Lift to Experience - These are the Days (29.14)
06. Titus Andronicus - Fear & Loathing in Mahwah, NJ (33.09)
07. Byrds of Paradise - Touch Tunnel (42.54)
08. Eels on Heels - G (48.59)
09. Balkans - Edita V (52.40)
10. The Caulfield Sisters - I See Your Face (59.37)

I've been itching to do this podcast for a while, but only now got my arse in gear to do it: record a podcast straight from vinyl.  It's a bit of a nuisance, because I have to switch back and forth from the mic, for the chatty bits, to the USB input for the records... oh never mind, you don't care about my logistical hassles do you.

The nice thing about vinyl is that the playlist is not simply going to be an inbox dump of whatever new indie has arrived this week, simply because I don't have all that much new music on vinyl.  Some, but not lots. 

Also, the electicism factor is massively increased, partly because my vinyl collection is downright eccentric, and partly because the very act of leafing through completely unsorted piles of records seems to make me lots more likely to pick something absolutely random which fits with nothing else at all and really has no excuse being anywhere near a haircut indie try-hard hipster podcast.  Which is of course exactly what this is.

01. Windsor Davies & Don Estelle - Whispering Grass (from It Ain't Half Hot, Mum) (00.29)
02. Eat Skull - Heaven's Stranger (06.27)
03. The Shop Assistants - Safety Net (12.50)
04. Beat the Devil - Mr. Ray (15.14)
05. King Creosote - The Right Form (25.47)
06. Seefeel - Faults (34.12)
07. The Japanese War Effort - Ribbit (39.09)
08. Edna McGriff - The Fool (44.29)
09. Kate & Anna McGarrigle - Heart Like a Wheel (51.19)
10. Jimmie Lunceford & his Orchestra - Well Alright Then (62.43)